What kind of morons are in this school district and why is there apparently not a criminal investigation into whether child porn was produced as a result of this. You will see what I am talking about when you see the picture they showed. How many kids get put in jail and labeled sex offenders for passing cell and webcam photos of themselves or their bf/gfs? Then this school district distributes laptops with secret recording devices taking pictures of teens without their knowledge or consent. The picture I am talking about is a teen boy sleeping in his bed. Lets see, what percentage of teen boys masturbate in their beds. How many of them unwittingly undressed in the privacy of their own room in front of these cameras. The chances of them having NOT done it are pretty friggin small. What idiots! The one tech person refused to testify at a deposition pleading the Fifth Amendment (right not to testify if it may tend to incriminate them in a criminal proceeding). She apparently has pictures on her computer at home.

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God grant meThe Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,The Courage to change the things I can,And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Notice the end of this article. Some real idiot parents are opposing the lawsuit because it will cost them money. How many of them will stick when they find pictures of their kids naked are floating through the internet. I say again that the chances that child pornography was produced are almost guaranteed. The more facts I find the more infuriated I get.

BTW, as an experienced paralegal who has read quite a bit of caselaw on privacy issues, this school is so completely screwed I can't believe they have not settled. A government entity secretly inserting cameras into innocent childrens homes without warrants. You even have the administrator bragging about the ability to do this without the user being aware.

Edited by catfish86 (04/16/1010:21 PM)

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God grant meThe Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,The Courage to change the things I can,And the Wisdom to know the difference.

I'm going to apologize up front, because I'm very upset, so I hope I don't offend anyone. I'm going to swear further down in my reply so that my swearing doesn't appear in the first few lines. (And I have edited this to add a few more words to the beginning here.) Ahem...

I am FUCKING OUTRAGED by this!!! What kind of SICK BASTARDS would do a thing like that to anyone, let alone kids?!?! DO THEY REALIZE HOW THIS WILL AFFECT THOSE CHILDREN FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES?!?!?! HOW MANY SUICIDES MIGHT HAPPEN BECAUSE SOME OF THOSE KIDS CAN'T LIVE WITH THE EMBARRASSMENT OF THEIR NAKED PICTURES ON THE INTERNET!!!!! THOSE FUCKING IDIOTS!!! WHOEVER DID THIS SHOULD BE FORCED TO PAY FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING, IN PERPETUITY, FOR ALL OF THOSE KIDS!!! AND GOD HELP WHOMEVER DID THIS IF EVEN ONE KID KILLS HIMSELF/HERSELF OVER THIS!!!

I'm sorry. This has made me infuriated. ADD to that the fact that a school was involved. I used to be a teacher (if only for a short time), but I would have been a good one. And I know several good teachers, as well. But it's events like these that have given schools and teachers such a bad reputation.

This is why I don't pay attention to the news. I'm not an angry person by nature; never have been. But if I met whomever was responsible for this walking down the street, God help him.

I hope someone sets up counseling centers IMMEDIATELY for all those kids. I'm so afraid one or more of them might die as a result of this disgusting event.

Again, my apologies if I upset anyone. Remember that I was very emotional when I wrote this.

Catfish, I hold no indignation about your posting this. You did label this post as triggering, and that was kind and thoughtful of you. Thank you, buddy. That was very considerate.

Your friend,

Bobcat

P.S. - Can I ask a favor of you, or anyone else who reads this? If anyone can, please make a suggestion to the news or the schools about immediate therapy for the students - even if it turns out the pictures don't get out to the Internet. These are teenagers, the age group with statistically the greatest self-esteem issues. Even if a student thought incorrectly that there was a private picture of himself/herself floating around out there, that thought could be the one that ends up turning a decision from living into one of suicide.

I'm sorry to ask this of anyone, but I can't do it myself. My CSA is prohibiting me from signing up at any other site. I don't trust technology, and this story hasn't helped. I'm concerned for those kids, but I'm also scared.

As an IT staff member, one would not have to be a victim\survivor of sexual abuse to have the wisdom and courage to take the moral stance of refusing to participate and implement the software that enabled this to happen. Whoever blindly and willingly installed this spyware on these laptops are no less guilty than whomever thought of the idea to install it in the first place.

The IT Manager of this school district and all that helped to implement this program should be fired, immediately. There is no excuse for this. It matters not that the computers were the property of the school. It matters not what the contents of the fine print of the lease agreement stated that the parents signed when they allowed their children to take the computers.

WHAT on God's green earth could the motivation for having this software on these laptops POSSIBLY be besides pure voyeurism?

"Research"? "Security?" Yeah, right. Here's one, how about getting off while spying on children when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

After reading some further articles, two IT personnel are on paid leave pending an investigation. The FBI and county DA are both investigating. I can only say that the proof will be in whether someone gets prosecuted for producing child porn. We all know enough about teen sexuality and where these laptops were to know that having these things snap thousands of photographs could not have avoided producing photographs any pedo would kill for. Add to that one an email exchange where one IT tech said "this is like watching a LMSD(Lower Merian School District) soap opera" to which the other replied, "I know, I love it".

If noone is prosecuted, especially given the recent trend of labeling sexting teens as sex offenders, I think we all will split a gasket.

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God grant meThe Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,The Courage to change the things I can,And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Bobcat,The sad part is that any "imagined photo", lets face it that is whats going to bother them thinking about all the things they did in private that might now be "out there", that might make the kid have mental issues is probably too embarrassing to speak about at this point in time, which is the requirement for getting better or past it. The kids who have this problem aren't going to get over it until they are adults well into their twenties or beyond.

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As Mark Twain once quipped, history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

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